In February, we held the revolutionary and timely 9th edition of the Uganda Feminist Forum under the theme Feminism As Practice. Jessica Horn, African feminist activist, writer, poet, and technical advisor on women’s rights guided us through a collective reflection on feminist praxis under her keynote address titled; Warriors, Wounded and Healers.
“I pictured all of you and the beautiful community of people that I have encountered in African Feminist movement spaces. I pictured us and I held us in my heart and asked who are we? Three words kept coming to me; Warriors, Wounded and Healers” Jessica Horn, held a mirror to us that depicted the individual and collective persona of the feminist.
As we continue our feminist work at the grassroot, local, academic and other sectors we identify with, we must consciously remember that while we, as African women and gender expansive persons make up the most numbers suffering from all forms of oppression, we are left with no choice but to be warriors and as our warriorism surfaces, it is not all there is to us.
We must remember that all our strategies and contributions are crucial to the liberation work and rather than engage ourselves in concern about what is not working, we should know that there is room for each of these strategies.
As Jessica Horn stressed, despite the imminent threats and costs to confronting the patriarchy, it is possible to gain courage and to stand together. It is possible to be conscious of the impact we have on each other and to take care.
So wherever you are contributing to disrupting the patriarchy, put healing at the heart of your movement because beyond being warriors, beyond being wounded we are healers. In viewing ourselves as healers we would be able to contemplate on ways that we can take care of ourselves and well as each other.
Warrior, Wounded, Healer; Portrait of an African feminist
In February, we held the revolutionary and timely 9th edition of the Uganda Feminist Forum under the theme Feminism As Practice. Jessica Horn, African feminist activist, writer, poet, and technical advisor on women's rights guided us through a collective reflection on feminist praxis under her keynote address titled; Warriors, Wounded and Healers. “I pictured all of you and the beautiful community of people that I have encountered in African Feminist movement spaces. I pictured us and I held us in my
